INSCRIPTIONS OF THE GREAT PERIOD. 353 
therefore, it is impossible that Stela H could have been made at the same 
time as Stela A, namely, in 9.14.19.5.0 4 Ahau 18 Muan,! and if not in 
9.14.19.5.0, the only other date available would appear to be 9.17.12.0.0. 
The several points, chronologic as well as stylistic, which tend to estab- 
lish the date of Stela H as 9.17.12.0.0 4 Ahau 18 Muan are summarized below: 
1. The date 4 Ahau 18 Muan occurred but once in the Great Period (to which 
Stela H undoubtedly belongs), namely, atiO.1'7-12.0.0. 
2. This latter position, moreover, is the only place in Cycle 9 at which 4 Ahau 
18 Muan stands at the end of an even tun. 
3. This latter position has a peculiar chronological propriety here, since it is 
the first Calendar Round anniversary of a date recorded on another monument in 
the Great Plaza, namely, 9.14.19.5.0 4 Ahau 18 Muan on Stela A. 
4. The absence of an Initial Series points to the fact that this stela is late, 
probably dating from the latter part of the Great Period. 
5. In the stylistic sequence of monuments at Copan, Stele B, D, M, and N 
stand between Stela A and Stela H, and since the date of Stela N (the latest of these 
four monuments) is 9.16.10.0.0, it is clear Stela H must be later still. But we have 
seen that the only other date possible for Stela H, besides 9.17.12.0.0, is 9.14.19.5.0, 
and since this monument must be placed later than 9.16.10.0.0 on stylistic grounds, 
the latter must be eliminated, and we are left with 9.17.12.0.0 as the only date 
available. 
All things considered, it may be accepted with considerable assurance 
that the date of Stela H is 9.17.12.0.0 4 Ahau 18 Muan. 
STELA F, 
Provenance: In the Great Plaza at the Main Structure, just north of 
Altars G,, Ge, and G;._ (See plate 6.) 
Date: 9.17:12:13.0 4: Ahau 13)-Yax (2). 
Text, (a) ee iis Maudslay, 1889-1902, vol. 1, plates 4, 6, 50, 51, 54, ). 
(b) drawing: | Catherwood, 1844, plate 3. 
Maudslay, ibid., plate 52, a. 
Stephens, 1841, vol. 1, two plates after p. 152. 
References: Bowditch, 1910, p. 238 and table 29. 
Galindo, 1834, Appendix X1, p. 598. 
Goodman, 1897, p. 131. 
Gordon, 1896, p. 35. 
Maudslay, 1889-1902, vol. 1 of text, p. 48. 
Spinden, 1913, pp. 159, 165, and table 1. 
Stephens, 1841, vol. 1, p. 152. 
Thomas, 1900, p. 778. 
Stela F stands in the Great Plaza at the Main Structure just north of 
Altars G,, G., and G3. Stephens calls it Statue Q.2. The front or west face is 
carved with a human figure of heroic size whose head-dress and feather-work 
drapery extend around and completely cover the adjacent sides, in which 
respect it resembles Stela H. Stela F is 3.66 meters high and 91 cm. wide. 
The inscription on the back is presented in a unique and beautiful 
manner. ‘Two ropes are entwined in such a way as to make five loops, in 
each one of which there are 4 glyph-blocks, or 20 for the entire text. Out- 
1 The contemporaneous date of Stela A is in reality a tonalamatl later, 1.¢., 9.15.0.0.0 4 Ahau 13 Yax. 
2 Stephens, 1841, vol. 1, map facing p. 133, and p. 152. 
